I’m Just Mad As Hell Because I Loved This Place
It is Inauguration Day in America, and I love this country. I have loved it since my childhood was spent watching the news and discussing campaigns. I cannot tear myself away from this country; even the fiction and entertainment I consume seems to be a monument to the American political system, how it has served us, when it has failed, and the numerous safeguards in place to keep the lights on. Since I last checked in, there have been funerals for President Jimmy Carter, confirmation hearings for Hegseth (and Bondi, I believe), and more pardons that I have mixed feelings about. We will unpack it all this week, and I’ll be back on my media monitoring today as well, but for now it is Inauguration day, and I feel simultaneously lighter than I have in so long, and at a loss for the kind of words I normally have. I like to come in like a friendly neighborhood blogger, and explain and analyze it all so you don’t have to, and then wrap it up with a pretty picture and a nice little bow.
Today, I don’t have any interest in looking back and pointing fingers. There will also be time for that later, but today we have to look forward. Our mandate in the next four years is as follows, in several parts.
We must do our best to come to a place where extremism and lack of education are disqualifying factors to sit in that esteemed office. We do this by learning from and talking openly with those who disagree with us, and by a bipartisan push to restructure the priorities within. The Republicans must take a step back from allowing the most divisive and outlandish among them for presidential primaries, and Democrats must jump into the fray with issues that impact more than 1-2 percent of the population. Shocking as it may seem, the answer to one party wishing to maintain an obscene wealth concentration and corruption within the political system is not to prioritize trans athletes. Both parties are currently catering to populations too small to reflect the problems of average Americans. As average Americans, the rest of us must come together to stand up for ourselves.
Our second mandate can help take care of the first. For two years at least, we must all turn off our televisions and radios and open a book, or a piece of written news media. Education is the enemy of extremism and anger, and can champion the kinds of conversations we need to be having. The whole country isn’t California, or Georgia, or wherever the most outlandish ideals of an American liberal or conservative come from. We have more in common than we are currently equipped to imagine right now. When we educate ourselves on this country, we can share our awareness that for most of us, we have all lived our whole lives in unprecedented times. We had never had a president as investigated and then exposed like Clinton, never had a President so thoroughly unqualified as W. Bush, never thought we’d see a President as well-spoken and frankly, cool, as Obama, setting aside for a moment that he’s a Black man. Our parents and grandparents couldn’t imagine Hilary or Kamala running, and they certainly could not have imagined Donald Trump coming into office, then losing, then leading an insurrection effort, then being re-elected after the Democrats gave us the only one with name recognition as a one term president. In the political history of the United States, my whole life has been full of bizarre aberrations from the norm we as a country could have come to expect. I have that in common with many of you, and I believe it is a jumping off point for understanding. Learn how the executive branch is supposed to work, the details of the jobs that Trump’s people will be doing on a daily basis in the unlikely event that they are confirmed. Learn about what a chief of staff, communications director, staff assistant, press secretary, special counsel, and so many more are supposed to do in service of our government. Compare it to the lifelong republicans who have testified to the fact that people like Trump cannot work within that structure, and re-examine what you want from your party. The Democrats must do the same, but I cannot and will not pretend that the Democrats have ever put forth a candidate that is this crazy.
On that note, I also believe we have a mandate to conduct ourselves in a way that is becoming of our morals. We have a right to peaceful protest in this country, and we should absolutely make use of that right, but statistics show that people that show up to protest don’t always show up to vote. If you didn’t vote, then don’t go to a march. If you saw what happened on January 6th and were disgusted, examine how much disruption and danger to others and to government spaces your protest efforts will create, and be critical of doublethink within yourselves. Would you roll your eyes if the other side did what you are doing? Would you want someone to do to your front yard what you’re about to do in someone else’s? Do you want someone to have the right to go after you for your actions the way you want to go after them? These are all important questions to ask before you do something in the name of a political movement. And if I may add one more- how educated are you on the history of what you are protesting? Would opening a book be a more significant act of service to your cause and your country than making a neon sign? In order to bring our country to commonality and understanding, these are critical questions to ask ourselves.
I believe we have a fourth mandate, to ourselves. We should all find some creative pursuit or passion. Not only is this a chance for togetherness and commonality, it is a surefire way to hold on to hope and make life work for you on your terms. It does not change the nature of the 24 hour news cycle, and the never ending storm of crazy that will be coming from the adjudicated rapist that currently sits in the White House, but it is a process of empowerment and it will contribute to you finding and using your voice. We are no good to our country if, in four years, we are all in stress comas and cannot comprehend getting to a voting booth. The only way to win any fight is to simply be here. Decisions, as they say, are made by those who show up. So just find something that motivates you to show up. Diversify your interests and commit to learning and trying something new.
I’ll be posting my craft pursuits, and I hope you will all join me. This is the time where American heroes are the ones who dare to do something they believe in, something untried, something courageous. I believe that courage in this day and age takes the form of volunteerism, quiet reflection, and abandoning the small window through which we have looked out at the big wide world. There are interests at play that many of us don’t think of on a daily basis, but we would do well to do so. In the meantime, I’ll be here, writing as often as possible, spending time with the mascot, sewing pretty things, cooking delicious food, and above all, looking out for the interests of my clients. It’s what makes my heart sing. Let’s be honest, something has to.
